Under COPPA, how do I know if my channel is “directed to children”? Since the FTC and New York Attorney General announced their September 2019 settlement with YouTube for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule, we’ve heard that question from channel owners – sometimes called content creators. If you’re a channel owner who shares content on user-generated platforms like YouTube, read on for FTC staff guidance about the applicability of the COPPA Rule and how those covered by the Rule can comply with its requirements.

The FTC action against YouTube and Google

The lawsuit against YouTube and Google alleged that the companies illegally collected personal information from children, in violation of COPPA. According to the complaint, the companies collected that information from viewers of child-directed YouTube channels in the form of persistent identifiers that track users across the Internet, but didn’t notify parents and get their consent. To settle the case, YouTube and Google agreed to create a mechanism so that channel owners can designate when the videos they upload to YouTube are – to use the words of COPPA – “directed to children.” The purpose of this requirement is to make sure that both YouTube and channel owners are complying with the law.

A COPPA recap

That provision of the settlement has raised questions among content creators about how to determine if what they upload to YouTube or other platforms is “directed to children.” The answer requires a brief summary of some key COPPA provisions. Passed by Congress in 1998, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act is a federal law that protects the privacy of children under 13. COPPA’s foundational principle is one that most people can agree on: Parents – not kids, companies, platforms, or content creators – should be in control when it comes to information collected from children online.

The COPPA Rule defines “personal information” to include obvious things like a child’s first and last name or home address, but that’s not all. Under COPPA, personal information also covers what are called persistent identifiers – behind-the-scenes code that recognizes a user over time and across different sites or online services. That could be an IP address or a cookie when it’s used to serve targeted ads. Keep in mind that an operator also might be collecting personal information through an open comment field on its site or service that allows a user under 13 to make personal information publicly available. For example, think of a comment like this on a child-directed site: My name is Mary Jones from Springfield. I love this video!

How COPPA applies to channel owners

So how does COPPA apply to channel owners who upload their content to YouTube or another third-party platform? COPPA applies in the same way it would if the channel owner had its own website or app. If a channel owner uploads content to a platform like YouTube, the channel might meet the definition of a “website or online service” covered by COPPA, depending on the nature of the content and the information collected. If the content is directed to children and if the channel owner, or someone on its behalf (for example, an ad network), collects personal information from viewers of that content (for example, through a persistent identifier that tracks a user to serve interest-based ads), the channel is covered by COPPA. Once COPPA applies, the operator must provide notice, obtain verifiable parental consent, and meet COPPA’s other requirements. For information on how to comply with COPPA, please visit the FTC’s COPPA page for our Six-Step Compliance Plan for Your Business.

How channel owners can determine if their content is directed to children

Under COPPA, there is no one-size-fits-all answer about what makes a site directed to children, but we can offer some guidance. To be clear, your content isn’t considered “directed to children” just because some children may see it. However, if your intended audience is kids under 13, you’re covered by COPPA and have to honor the Rule’s requirements.

The Rule sets out additional factors the FTC will consider in determining whether your content is child-directed:

the subject matter,

visual content,

the use of animated characters or child-oriented activities and incentives,

the kind of music or other audio content,

the age of models,

the presence of child celebrities or celebrities who appeal to children,

language or other characteristics of the site,

whether advertising that promotes or appears on the site is directed to children, and

competent and reliable empirical evidence about the age of the audience.

The determination of whether content is child-directed will be clearer in some contexts than in others, but we can share some general rules of thumb. First, unless you’re affirmatively targeting kids, there are many subject matter categories where you don’t have to worry about COPPA. For example, if your videos are about traditionally adult activities like employment, finances, politics, home ownership, home improvement, or travel, you’re probably not covered unless your content is geared toward kids. The same would be true for videos aimed at high school or college students. On the other hand, if your content includes traditional children’s pastimes or activities, it may be child-directed. For example, the FTC recently determined that an online dress-up game was child-directed.

Second, just because your video has bright colors or animated characters doesn’t mean you’re automatically covered by COPPA. While many animated shows are directed to kids, the FTC recognizes there can be animated programming that appeals to everyone.

Third, the complaint in the YouTube case offers some examples of channels the FTC considered to be directed to children. For example, many content creators explicitly stated in the “About” section of their YouTube channel that their intended audience was children under 13. Other channels made similar statements in communications with YouTube. In addition, many of the channels featured popular animated children’s programs or showed kids playing with toys or participating in other child-oriented activities. Some of the channel owners also enabled settings that made their content appear when users searched for the names of popular toys or animated characters. Want to see the FTC’s analysis in context? Read pages 10-14 of the YouTube complaint.

Finally, if you’ve applied the factors listed in the COPPA Rule and still wonder if your content is “directed to children,” it might help to consider how others view your content and content similar to yours. Has your channel been reviewed on sites that evaluate content for kids? Is your channel – or channels like yours – mentioned in blogs for parents of young children or in media articles about child-directed content? Have you surveyed your users or is there other empirical evidence about the age of your audience?

What are the possible penalties for violating COPPA?

The Rule allows for civil penalties of up to $42,530 per violation, but the FTC considers a number of factors in determining the appropriate amount, including a company’s financial condition and the impact a penalty could have on its ability to stay in business. While Google and YouTube paid $170 million, in another COPPA case settled this year, the operator paid a total civil penalty of $35,000.

Isn’t the FTC taking another look at the COPPA Rule?

Yes, the FTC is currently evaluating the Rule in light of rapid changes in technology. If you would like to comment on the effectiveness of the COPPA Rule and whether changes are needed, the FTC has extended the comment deadline to December 9, 2019.

Comments

I understand that COPPA is going under affect and is used to protect children under the age of 13 but that's what YouTube Kids was made for and it protects children that can't make a Google account. YouTube its self is made for 13+ hense that's why you have to make a Google Account. I think COPPA is a bad idea because when a creator makes content they have to make thumbnail relating to their video hense most of the content on YouTube has got some sort cartoon character or celebrities or game affiliated with but the content is made for mainly young adults and kids of age 13+ with a parents permission. YouTube is a job and most of the content creators are make a living off of making videos and if the law goes into affect, people are at risk of losing millions of dollars and could potentially lose their jobs over not saying whether the videos they are intended for children or not. I feel like charging someone $42,000 per video, if they do not comply with this new law is a little bit excessive, because that's a YouTuber's yearly salary.

I find the distinctions indistinct. If one says, It's not intended for children even if no salacious content is included, is one liable for fines if a child watches (for example) a show about animals and an animal is hurt, and a child watching this is upset? When are parents and guardians of children to be held responsible rather than the creato of a nature show. Is the shows creator held harmless if there is a disclaimer at the start? Maybe even newscast or news conference should begin with a like disclaimer as much of that content is incendiary, disingenuous, and vacuous. This is overreach.

YouTube viewers and creators petition the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to clarify and reconsider the new Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA Rule) regulations on YouTube creators. Shutting off personalized ads on creators’ content will cause more harm than good, especially for children. Quality family-friendly content will shrink, while more mature content will grow — yet kids will still be watching.

The FTC should not expand COPPA regulations for content creators. Broadening the definition of “child-directed” to include “child-attractive” would force many more creators to turn off personalized ads. As a result, even more quality content will dry up, and more mature and extreme content will fill the platform.

The free YouTube Kids app is a better solution than regulation targeting family-friendly creators. YouTube Kids removes privacy concerns around personalized ads. Parents buy devices and allow their children to watch YouTube Main. Many parents prefer to use YouTube Main because it has more features and less barriers. Creators should not be punished when parents choose not to use YouTube Kids. COPPA is about putting parents in control of protecting their children’s personal information online. The FTC should not use COPPA to remove parents from the process in regulating content and online advertising.

While large corporations will survive these changes, small business creators face terminating employees, changing their business model, or shutting down production altogether. These regulations will particularly hurt young underserved audiences who participate in YouTube communities on topics like special needs, faith, and minority groups. Limiting quality free content for kids expands the digital divide. Turning off personalized ads on kids’ content also encourages increased product placement and brand deals within kids’ content.

Creators face COPPA fines up to $42,530 per video, yet the regulation and definition of “child-directed” is vague. The FTC needs to provide creators with enforcement clarity.

We ask the FTC to:
1. Provide an enforcement statement for creators
2. Clarify the definition of “child-directed,” and not expand it to cover “child-attractive” content
3. Delay enforcement against creators until the FTC concludes its review of COPPA
4. Allow parents to use YouTube Kids or YouTube Main, without forcing creators to turn off personalized ads when parents choose to use YouTube Main

You’re basically destroying YouTube which could make 25 million people go homeless, plus it’s not YouTubes fault because kids are watching YouTube It’s more of the parents fault For letting them use.It to please I tell you please stop this or else open the rules up so it’s not so strict.By the way you know your are making yourself look like a fool.So please stop this I know YouTube downloaded data on children but it was an accident.Remember this and really mean it every person makes a mistake, No matter how smart or dum, making mistakes is how us as humans learn.

I believe that what you are doing is wrong, YouTube is a social media where people can make money off of videos for a living based on what each channel on there is made for, for the entertainment of others, where people can learn things, and what is going on in the world. Youtube is fine how it is, if there's anotherthing you can change is Youtube kids, YouTube kids is for more safer use, Google needs shut down on gathering data to PREVENT taking advantage of COPPA and come up with the policey to restrict the children under the age of 14 year old. You can't change the entire YouTube media in a well-organized society because of what people do for a living, age restrictions before signing in youtube is a better solution, make YouTube kids into something new and shut down its collecting. Do what is best for everyone so they can make living today

Hello.
This ruling is extremely stupid! Shutting down channels because they are appealing to children is so stupid. I watch videos on semi trucks, airplanes and building plastic models. All of those things are appealing to children!!! But all are to be operated by adults! A child can watch a video about a bulldozer, but would not be able to operate a bulldozer!!! FTC needs to monitor seriously harmful stuff on the internet, like porn! Not YouTube videos on stuff.
Wake up FTC and do what is right!!!

I remain unclear on how a YouTube channel/content creator can possible get affirmative consent from a parent before their child can view videos. Doesn't the account holder consent to that in the Terms and Agreements section when they sign up? And wouldn't that be part of YouTube's responsibility to filter regular videos from YouTube from appearing in YouTube Kids? How can content creators stop their videos aimed at adults from being labeled as "Child content"? For example, the movie Deadpool is based on a comic book character. The film was rated R (restricted to adults by definition), how would a review of the movie be listed? Is it for kids because it was based off of a comic book? I'd argue no it's not because of the gore, violence and language in both the comic books and movies. The parents, however, might not agree with my perspective and allow their children to view such a review. In this scenario, the content creator is not targeting the child, but the parent's permissiveness or lack of due diligence allows children to see it. Can the content creator be liable under COPPA because they reviewed something that is rated R but a parent didn't know or care or supervise what their child is consuming? This could easily happen if the parent allows a child to use their account to view YouTube, despite the content creator's efforts to label their material as being made for adults. How can the content creator self-censor against permissive or irresponsible behavior?

Also, content creators have no control over any of the data or other analytics that are collected by Google or AdSense. I could find no opt-in or opt-out for such data collection or storage. That is all done by Google without user input or control as far as I could tell. Goggle collects generalized information and puts it under Analytics on the dashboard, but users can not opt out of receiving that information. Further, that is very generalized demographics, not IP address or other personal data. Often, the analytics feature is inaccurate, unavailable, or even misleading. So, how can channel "owners" and content creators stop something that is done automatically without their input, consent, or control? AdSense is the only advertising option through YouTube that allows you to earn money through ads. What ads are played is chosen by YouTube and maybe by AdSense. I've never had or even heard of AdSense sharing personal information, IP address, or even demographics with content creators.

As for the comment sections, how can any content creator control what anyone of any age puts in the comment section? If a child is logged in under a parent's account or simply lies about their age, how would a content creator know this, deter it, or stop it? This is true of any forum, bulletin board, review site like Yelp! or even product reviews on Amazon. Isn't this just a way of silencing the opinions of viewers who want to express their opinions because someone MIGHT reveal personal information that may or may not be real?

As a 48 yr old man i have always enjoyed 2 things. Cartoons (including anime) and video games. I find it ridiculous how vague you have made your rules regarding youtube content. Mayhaps when attempting to make rules that would ruin content creators income (jobs) it would be wise to have someone advising you on the INSANE amount of content that you obviously do not understand. Thank you for reading this. KUTTR-

Video games such as Pokémon, Minecraft, and Fortnite appeals to a wide range of ages that includes very young children to young adults. How can we trust you won't punish content creators for making videos about these games or similar subjects such as some cartoons, books, movies, etc?

For example a video on the viability of a Pokemon in competitive play is hopefully obviously not made for young children, something like "Top 5 best Pokémon" could be made a general audience that includes but isn't exclusively child under 13.

This is causing great concern for both the creators and users of YouTube tutorials for things like face painting and balloon twisting. Either YouTube is trying to ditch these creators or they are not appropriately setting up options. From the explanation you provide it sounds like these creators could be given an educational type and YouTube could then apply appropriate ads to those sites. It needs to be clear who is creating the confusion. I don’t know a single balloon artist or face painter who could afford a $42,000 fine.

As a content creator, of the smaller kind. I wish for COPPA to have YouTube make an all adults type of thing so not all content gets to disappear. Please dont take what some of us grew up with away. Please

Agree. They must also consider gender, according to studies Girls become teenagers at the age of 11-13 while boys are 13-14. Also THEY MUST consider age is not the mind. I wasnt childish after 3 yet was my brother, while some of my realitives say that they were so childish until 12 as well.

The responsibility is solely on the shoulders of the youtube content creators. So, do the content creators siphon off the data belonging to children? Do they mine the IP addresses? No, Youtube does. Yet, the responsibility and blame is on the content creators instead of the platform that takes advantage of the cookies and profits from it. Though this is moot. Children shouldn't even be on Youtube. The apps are for 17+ and to even have a Youtube or Google account, the owner has to be 13+. So, children under 13 on the platform are in violation. The owners of those accounts that allow their children to watch content on Youtube are in violation and should have their accounts removed. End of story. Get rid of the children. They are a liability to our entertainment. Youtube is not a babysitting service. That's what Youtube Kids is for.

YouTube is also not a babysitting service for creators. Every single person, creators or not, has an individual responsibility to comply with laws. YouTube is simply providing creators with the tools they need to comply with this particular law. And no one is blaming the creators or putting the sole responsibility on them. As a matter of fact, YouTube is doing all these changes, that help creators to comply with COPPA, free of charge.

I and many other channels are concerned about COPPA effecting our content. We are doing videos with an app called Gacha Life. We make lots of skits and music videos among various different things. We show our arts if some choose to do so, but we are concerned because our content might catch the eye of children even though most of us aren't intending our audience to be children and put "13+" along side some videos. I just wanted to state this because we range in different ages.

I also have a question, how does coppa effect others who aren't getting paid for videos. Does it effect them the same or is there a difference. Please let me know and others cause this would be a big help to possibly calm down the panic going across YouTube and in the communities.

The one who will be enforcing the Rule is YouTube and not the FTC, correct? YouTube plans to use their algorithm to enforce whether a video is “for kids” or not. This algorithm has not proven to be reliable and I fear that many channels that should not apply to COPPA will be incorrectly categorized as such. I hope that the FTC can find a way to prevent what will most likely become the senseless massacre of many innocent content creators.

I'm still feeling a vagueness to the explanation of what constitutes a violation of the COPPA rules. I have mostly cute videos of my cats, but never intended it for children. Though, the videos would certainly be enjoyable for all ages. I have no advertising or monetization on my videos. How do the COPPA rules apply to channels like mine, where there are cat and gardening videos, just for fun, but no monetization?

Is Gacha considered for kids? Cause I use the app to generate a character to use for animations and I’m still lost on if it’s considered for kids or not. Also, do us as content creators get fined for marking our videos wrongly or just for having our videos marked as for kids?

I wanna say that many youtubers that work for youtube for a living, that it makes others happy with whatever content they create that appeals to younger or older audiences. With so much bad things in the world youtubers help make content that's not only entertaining but to help cope with harsh realities, cause I like watching them making others laugh and laughter is best medicine.

I am extremely worried about the new changes regarding the new ruling on you tube videos in respect of the COPPA regulations. Firstly, I cannot see how it will work in real life, as many subjects could be seen as ‘child appealing’, such as sport, trains, motor cars, etc. Children are curious beings and want to learn. The animation content of a video would be a flag that it is directed to children, but I know a musician who uses the medium of animation. In his videos to express subjects such as terrorism, a woman losing her whole family in a mass shooting, and the tragic death of a loved one. How is he supposed to mark those videos? They are cartoons but the subject matter is definitely not for children.

However, my main concern is in relation to ‘subject mater’ which may be directed or appealing to children. My passion is art and adult colouring. I watch adult colouring videos on you tube every day- a lot of them being live-streams where quite often the same people will meet up in chat and interact. Most people who take up adult colouring do it for stress relief. There are many video creators and viewers in this colouring community who suffer with anxiety and depression, and or chronic pain and illnesses. Some of these people are housebound and the only connection they have with the outside world is through the people they meet on livestream chat or through the comments on videos. They have made friendships from all over the globe with likeminded people with the same passion in adult colouring. This is their lifeline everyday. I have heard a lot of of people say that adult colouring and the friends they have met through you tube have saved them. We are now obviously worried, as colouring is the subject matter, which I guess traditionally is seen as a child’s activity. These videos are definitely not for children though, as the creators and people in chat talk about adult issues, including a lot about anxiety and depression, and dealing with chronic pain. If creators mark their videos ‘for children’, then in most cases this is inaccurate because of the subject matter talked about, and the social interaction which is one of the main things in the colouring community, would be completely irradiated with the removal of comments and chat, so there will be no point anymore in creators making videos. However, if the videos are marked ‘for adults’, then the creators will be constantly worried that their videos will be flagged, and that they will receive a life damaging fine. There has already been many creators who have removed all their colouring videos, and some have already completely closed their channel as they cannot deal with the worry and confusion over the uncertain rules. A lot of these creators are disabled, on low incomes and have said that they cannot subject their families to this possible financial ruin. Most of the creators already suffer with anxiety and depression, and this is just too much for them. People are leaving in droves. For the people who watch the videos and interact on a daily basis will lose the thing that keeps them going. To be honest, it is not an exaggeration to say that I can see some people taking their own lives over this ruling.

So, I respectively ask that this ruling be reconsidered, and this utter madness be stopped. It is up to parents to monitor their children, not for the blame to fall on video creators. This is very serious.

YouTube channels are an important source of income for many YouTubers. This new law will cause many people to lose their jobs, and their passions. YouTube also plays an important role in review videos, many of which seem to be directed towards kids, but are actually directed towards adults.

1) There are a wide variety of audiences. Many channels with more mature audiences in mind (e.g. tutorial channels for fixing things, gameplay channels, comedy channels, music channels) will likely be taken down.

2) Children will eventually grow out of the channels tailored towards said children and become part of the more mature audiences. Which means another audience lost.

3) If child-friendly is the intention, it would be wiser to make a secondary video streaming website that only has child-friendly content in mind. Youtube has always been fun for the masses, and this development has caused a tremendous amount of backlash.

Things will continuously get worse. As more people take the fall, so will Youtube. Until there is nothing left but a one-generation audience. And after that, no more generations will stick around to even view a video.

YouTube shouldn’t need to be directed to kids. Not all animated doesn’t have to kids at all. They are animated that are pg-13 and R rated. You do realize. YouTube is been doing it over decades. You change that. Over 60 percent of channels will go against you FTC and COPPA. You still don’t understand anything. You are extremely out of touch. That is reality.

This is wrong, this so wrong. The FTC is not helping anything, all they're doing is trying to ruin lives and crush dreams and COPPA is only going to make it worse. So what I'm asking for is that the FTC withdrawal from YouTube and #RepealCOPPA.

This rule is too vague. If I post a video from an amusement park like Disney, of course that is going to appeal to kids yet my channel is not geared towards kids. There should be a general audience section for family-friendly content as well. Honestly, the REAL way to prevent all of this is to force companies like YouTube to force you to sign in to an account to watch content, that way age can already be established and it now falls on the parents. There is an easier way, companies like YouTube just choose to punish the small creators like us because they screwed up! I am sure the FTC can find a way to remedy this.

I am an ADULT toy collector, I play video games, I love pop culture. I watch YouTube videos that cover topics and hobbies that I'm truly passionate about. These videos are targeted towards us nerds that are adults that enjoy are hobbies. You are taking away our ability to come together and discuss are hobbies and interests with like-minded individuals. It may come as a shocker that probably more adults spend more money on toys than kids. How about parents actually do their job and monitor what their kids are doing instead of the government feeling as though they need to be the parents.

Hello FTC I have a question I'm a new creator on YouTube I make animations with animals and other characters. My art style is very animated but I don't want kids to see my art as some of it is more mature. Some of it is gory and dark I never show actually blood but like a dog with a skull head. But because of my art style am I in danger of doing something wrong even though I mark my content as not for kids? I want YouTube to be safer for kids but I also want to be able to continue to make my art. The majority of my art is very happy and gore free but even when its gore free am I in danger of doing something wrong because of my art style? I'm a really new artist. I'm 19 I'm still a kid in a sense and I don't want to do anything to in danger myself unknowingly. Can I get in trouble for marking my content 'not for kids' if its friendly in general. Like if its an animation of a dog playing with another dog and has a bunch of bright colors and I mark it as not for kids because. I'm not trying to make anything for kids to view I'm making stuff for my age group and above. Can I get in trouble if its determine to be kids content by computer scanners? Even though I marked it as adult content. I can't control who watches my videos. And I want to help make YouTube safer. Can you help me understand things more please. also I wanted to thank you for looking out for kids and for protecting them. I love making adult content and I don't want kids to see it simply because it wasn't made for them or with the intention of them being viewers.

I'm an animator I make both adult only content and friendly content. I don't make content for kids to view. I mark my videos as for adults. But because I'm an animator and my art style I'm afraid of kids viewing it even though I mark it as not for kids. Can I get in trouble if kids view it even though I marked it not for kids? And what can I do to prevent kids from watching my videos. What can I do to keep myself safe because I'm not targeting kids as viewers but some of my content may appeal to all ages despite the fact that I'm making content for adults viewers. What should I do? Am I doing the right thing by only making my content as for kids? Theres only two options for categorizing content for kids not for kids what do I do if I fall in the middle ground? Even though I'm not making content for kids to view I'm just making content that is happy. I'm very happy to see that YouTube is becoming a safer place for kids and also concerned about myself Simply because I do not want to make a mistake and do something I'm not supposed to unknowingly with the only intention of making content what is self-fulfilling to my own dreams and desires. I want to be able to help make the YouTube Community a safer place I want to know how I can help by making sure my content is properly labeled and categorized. As an artist I create my art for me so it comes to variety there's no real box to put it in is it safe to just label it all as not for kids?

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